Making Helium-3

[Cryptonix]

Hello, Im just trying to invent how to make Helium-3 from O_2.

_{This is my first prototype of nuclear reaction:}

 

¹⁶O₈---Nr--->¹²O₅---t 1/2--->¹²C₆---Nr--->⁸C₂---t 1/2--->⁶Be₂---Nr--->⁵Be₁---t 1/2--->⁴Li₁---t 1/2--->³He₁

 

_{Up index - isotope number}

_{Down index - neutron number}

_{Nr - neutron radiation (detaches neutrons from core)}

_{t 1/2 - Half-Time}

 

Opinions ?

Edited August 22, 2013 by Cryptonix

[swansont]

Your notation is wrong. e.g. ¹²O₅ makes no sense, the down index is the number of protons, and in any event, it's not clear how you get there with neutron bombardment.

[Cryptonix]

I know down index is always proton but its not important now...

[John Cuthber]

I know down index is always proton but its not important now...

Indeed, because the scheme won't work.

For example, 16O has a reasonable neutron capture cross section and is converted to 17O

[Cryptonix]

So its unable to detach neutrons from oxygen by neutron radiation because core of oxygen will capture bombarding neutrons from radiation and number of neutrons in core will increase?

[John Cuthber]

Yes,

You also need to realise that, in general, it's impossible to write down a set of equations and say that they will happen just because you want them to.

 

It's just about possible to spall off neutrons but it's a rare event compared to capture.

[Cryptonix]

Where can I read something about neutron capturing of all elements? Btw have u some idea how improve this?

[Cryptonix]

I got new idea:

 

2H₂O---electrolysis--->O₂ + 2H₂---Nr--->⁴H^₃---t 1/2--->³H²---t 1/2--->³He¹

 

Up left index - isotope number

Up right index - neutron number

Nr - neutron radiation (¹H will capture three neutrons from neutron radiation and make ⁴H³).

[John Cuthber]

You still need to realise that, in general, it's impossible to write down a set of equations and say that they will happen just because you want them to

[Cryptonix]

You know nobody cant realise that, at start its always only numbers on paper. For realise these things I need an organisation or corporation with money.

[John Cuthber]

Sorry, I seem not to have made myself clear. the word "realise" doesn't only mean "to make real", it also means to understand".

 

You still need to understand that, in general, it's impossible to write down a set of equations and say that they will happen just because you want them to

[Cryptonix]

What Specifically thing in that reaction you mean its impossible?

[John Cuthber]

Neutrons still do not do what you want them to.

 

This bit will work

2H₂O---electrolysis--->O₂ + 2H₂

 

but the rest won't.

[Cryptonix]

4H3---t 1/2--->3H2---t 1/2--->3He1

this will work 100% too.

[John Cuthber]

There isn't a 4H so, no it 100% won't work.

Go and learn something before posting more nonsense.

[Cryptonix]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_hydrogen

[John Cuthber]

" It decays through neutron emission with a half-life of (1.39 ± 0.10) × 10⁻²² seconds"

So, where do you plan to get it from?

[Enthalpy]

Usual Hydrogen to deuterium to tritium via neutron capture does work, but deuterium's section for neutron capture is very small.

³H converts to ³He spontaneously, yes.

 

³H is normally produced from lithium:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium#Production

 

And: why should someone want to produce ³He by a nuclear reaction? It's a naturally occurring nuclide, and it separates spontaneously from ⁴He at 2K. Just cool enough, get one layer on top of the other, how easy.

[John Cuthber]

If I had a litre of liquid helium in a beaker at 2K (let's assume I'm somewhere really cold), how thick would the ³He layer be?

[Enthalpy]

The terrestrial proportion of ³He is 1.37ppm

http://www.webelements.com/helium/isotopes.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium

so for a significant thickness, the container's top would better be very narrow.

 

That's a tiny proportion, but producing ³He is seriously difficult, especially because it swallows neutrons passing by - these neutrons used to produce it. It also takes patience, since the decay of ³H is typically on the route.

 

Some people suggest to consume ³He in fusion reactors instead of the unavailable ³H, but:

- Tokamaks are nowhere near using ³He, which is hugely more difficult than ³H

- ³He could regenerate ³H in blankets there, but it needs one neutron per tritium just as lithium does, and only one neutron is created per consumed tritium... Neutron multipliers may work some day, but maybe not, and these would pollute as much as a uranium reactor does. Yuk.

- These same people add: no ³He on Earth, but let's extract it from Moon's regolith, where it is hypothesized to be... Two impossibilities and a hypothesis, engineering works better on stronger bases.

[Cryptonix]

If I want decay a stable isotope by emission, it is possible?

[John Cuthber]

Stable isotopes do not decay.

[Cryptonix]

Even they are exposed to whatever type of emission or ray?

[Enthalpy]

Then it's only a matter of wording. By "decay" one usually understands "through radioactivity".

 

Humans have some means to act on nuclides, typically by particle bombardment, which is less inefficient than X-rays. It is done at research labs, for instance to produce energetic neutrons in big amounts from a proton beam and investigate the effect of neutrons in materials. Or in particle colliders, usually for other purposes.

 

Though, the faint probability to hit a nucleus, and the big chances to have accelerated a particle for no result, mean that nuclide reactions provoqued that way are not usable on commercial scale - if this is your intention. For instance, a 100MeV proton beam on a target of natural lithium makes neutrons, triton, alphas and the like. At big energy and money expenses for very little produced amounts, and technology won't improves that radically.

 

Up to now, the only action from humans on nuclei on a big scale is through neutrons. They require no minimum energy to meet a nucleus and are produced abundently by uranium and plutonium fission. So to say all the man-made nuclides (in significant amounts) result from neutron irradiation at nuclear reactors.

 

If someone could find a way, sensible economically, to produce some radio-nuclides without the special nuclear reactors, that would be extremely useful. Some nuclides are wanted by medicine and are produced by 3 to 6 reactors worldwide; some of these reactors are dangerous ruins, and when one stops, worldwide supply is short. The day-lived nuclides must be transported across the planet to the hospitals before decaying. Not satisfactory at all.

 

One other nice task, as soon as someone finds how to command radioactivity, would be to exploit the decay energy of ⁴⁰K. Abundent in the Oceans, no radioactive waste... Except that no-one has found a way.

[Cryptonix]

Is this possible ?

 

 

2H₂O---electrolysis--->O₂ + 2H₂---1K--->²H (deuterium)